Current:Home > FinanceHarris and Trump are having a new squabble over their upcoming debate, this time about muted mics -GrowthSphere Strategies
Harris and Trump are having a new squabble over their upcoming debate, this time about muted mics
View
Date:2025-04-15 01:40:47
WASHINGTON (AP) — The campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are arguing in advance of their high-stakes Sept. 10 debate over whether microphones should be muted except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak.
While it’s common for campaigns to quibble beforehand over debate mechanics, both Harris and Trump are under pressure to deliver a strong performance next month in Philadelphia. The first debate during this campaign led to President Joe Biden’s departure from the race.
Trump on Sunday night raised the possibility that he might not show up on ABC, posting on his Truth Social network that he had watched the network’s Sunday show with a “so-called Panel of Trump Haters” and posited, “why would I do the Debate against Kamala Harris on that network?” and urging followers to “Stay tuned!!”
The current dispute centers on the muting of microphones when a candidate isn’t speaking, a condition both Biden and Trump accepted for their June debate hosted by CNN. Both sides are accusing the other of gaming the system to protect their candidate.
Biden’s campaign team made microphone muting a condition of its decision to accept any debates this year, and some aides now regret the decision, saying voters were shielded from hearing Trump’s outbursts during the debate. That move likely would not have helped the incumbent Democrat’s disastrous performance.
The Harris campaign now wants microphones to be live all the time, according to Harris spokesman Brian Fallon, who issued a statement needling Trump.
“Trump’s handlers prefer the muted microphone because they don’t think their candidate can act presidential for 90 minutes on his own,” Fallon said. Harris “is ready to deal with Trump’s constant lies and interruptions in real time. Trump should stop hiding behind the mute button.”
Trump spokesman Jason Miller retorted that the Republican nominee had “accepted the ABC debate under the exact same terms as the CNN debate.” He alleged Harris’ representatives sought “a seated debate, with notes, and opening statements.”
Miller then took a shot at Harris not sitting for an interview or holding a news conference since Biden ended his reelection and endorsed her, arguing her campaign now wants “to give her a cheat sheet for the debate.”
The Harris campaign denied Miller’s claim that she wanted notes.
During a stop Monday in the Washington area following a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, Trump said “we agreed to the same rules” in terms of the Sept. 10 debate, adding: “The truth is they’re trying to get out of it.”
Complicating the negotiations this year is that debates are being orchestrated on an ad hoc basis by host networks, as opposed to the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, through which debate rules were negotiated privately.
Microphones have been unmuted for both candidates for most of televised presidential debate history. The debate commission announced that its October 2020 debate would have microphones muted when candidates were not recognized to speak after the first Biden-Trump contest descended into a shouting match. The second 2020 debate with the microphone muting rules was widely celebrated for being more substantive than the earlier matchup.
___
Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Colleen Long in Washington, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
___
Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP
veryGood! (542)
Related
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Leaders of Democratic protest of Israel-Hamas war won’t endorse Harris but warn against Trump
- 'Sacred': Cherokee name in, Confederate general out for Tennessee's highest mountain
- District attorney appoints special prosecutor to handle Karen Read’s second trial
- From family road trips to travel woes: Americans are navigating skyrocketing holiday costs
- Blue Jackets open camp amid lingering grief over death of Johnny Gaudreau
- MLS playoff clinching scenarios: LAFC, Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake can secure berths
- Sheriff’s posting of the mugshot of a boy accused of school threat draws praise, criticism
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- These evangelicals are voting their values — by backing Kamala Harris
Ranking
- Trump invites nearly all federal workers to quit now, get paid through September
- Jean Smart, Ariana Grande, Michael Keaton among hosts for ‘SNL’ season 50
- Atlantic City mayor, school superintendent wife indicted on child abuse charges
- Officials identify 2 men killed in Idaho gas station explosion
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski retires from journalism, joins St. Bonaventure basketball
- A Trump Debate Comment About German Energy Policy Leaves Germans Perplexed
- Testimony begins in trial for ex-sergeant charged in killing of Virginia shoplifting suspect
Recommendation
DeepSeek: Did a little known Chinese startup cause a 'Sputnik moment' for AI?
Nearly 100-year-old lookout tower destroyed in California's Line Fire
Ohio officials approve language saying anti-gerrymandering measure calls for the opposite
Air Force to deploy Osprey aircraft in weeks following review over deadly crash
McKinsey to pay $650 million after advising opioid maker on how to 'turbocharge' sales
Man says he lied when he testified against inmate who is set to be executed
Start 'Em, Sit 'Em quarterbacks: Week 3 fantasy football
Ex-CIA officer gets 30 years in prison for drugging, sexually abusing dozens of women